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Total area: 1 km2Land area: 1 km2Comparative area: about 1.7 times the size of the Mall in Washington, DCLand boundaries: noneCoastline: 3 kmMaritime claims: Contiguous zone: 12 nm Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm Territorial sea: 12 nmDisputes: noneClimate: tropical, but moderated by prevailing windsTerrain: low and nearly level with a maximum elevation of about 1 meterNatural resources: noneLand use: arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland 0%; other 100%Environment: barren coral atoll with deep interior lagoon; wet or awash most of the timeNote: located 1,600 km south-southwest of Honolulu in the North Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa; maximum elevation of about 1 meter makes this a navigational hazard; closed to the public

:Kingman Reef People

Population: uninhabited

:Kingman Reef Government

Long-form name: noneType: unincorporated territory of the US administered by the US NavyCapital: none; administered from Washington, DC

:Kingman Reef Economy

Overview: no economic activity

:Kingman Reef Communications

Ports: none; offshore anchorage onlyAirports: lagoon was used as a halfway station between Hawaii and American Samoa by Pan American Airways for flying boats in 1937 and 1938

:Kingman Reef Defense Forces

Note: defense is the responsibility of the US

:Kiribati Geography

Total area: 717 km2Land area: 717 km2; includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Phoenix IslandsComparative area: slightly more than four times the size of Washington, DCLand boundaries: noneCoastline: 1,143 kmMaritime claims: Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm Territorial sea: 12 nmDisputes: noneClimate: tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade windsTerrain: mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefsNatural resources: phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)Land use: arable land NEGL%; permanent crops 51%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland 3%; other 46%Environment: typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to March; 20 of the 33 islands are inhabitedNote: Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French Polynesia and Nauru

Branches: no military force maintained; the Police Force carries out law enforcement functions and paramilitary duties; there are small police posts on all islandsManpower availability: NADefense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red with a black trapezoid based on the hoist side

:Kuwait Economy

Overview: Up to the invasion by Iraq in August 1990, the oil sector had dominated the economy. Kuwait has the third-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Earnings from hydrocarbons have generated over 90% of both export and government revenues and contributed about 40% to GDP. Most of the nonoil sector has traditionally been dependent upon oil-derived government revenues. Iraq's destruction of Kuwait's oil industry during the Gulf war has devastated the economy. Iraq destroyed or damaged more than 80% of Kuwait's 950 operating oil wells, as well as sabotaged key surface facilities. Firefighters brought all of the roughly 750 oil well fires and blowouts under control by November 1991. By yearend, production had been brought back to 400,000 barrels per day; it could take two to three years to restore Kuwait's oil production to its prewar level of about 2.0 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, population had been greatly reduced because of the war, from 2.1 million to 1.4 million.GDP: exchange rate conversion - $8.75 billion, per capita $6,200; real growth rate -50% (1991 est.)Inflation rate (consumer prices): NAUnemployment rate: NABudget: revenues $7.1 billion; expenditures $10.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.1 billion (FY88)Exports: $11.4 billion (f.o.b., 1989) commodities: oil 90% partners: Japan 19%, Netherlands 9%, US 8%, Pakistan 6%Imports: $6.6 billion (f.o.b., 1989) commodities: food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing partners: US 15%, Japan 12%, FRG 8%, UK 7%External debt: $7.2 billion (December 1989 est.)Industrial production: growth rate 3% (1988); accounts for 52% of GDPElectricity: 3,100,000 kW available out of 8,290,000 kW capacity due to Persian Gulf war; 7,300 million kWh produced, 3,311 kWh per capita (1991)Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, desalination, food processing, building materials, salt, constructionAgriculture: virtually none; dependent on imports for food; about 75% of potable water must be distilled or importedEconomic aid: donor - pledged $18.3 billion in bilateral aid to less developed countries (1979-89)Currency: Kuwaiti dinar (plural - dinars); 1 Kuwaiti dinar (KD) = 1,000 filsExchange rates: Kuwaiti dinars (KD) per US$1 - 0.2950 (March 1992), 0.2843 (1991), 0.2915 (1990), 0.2937 (1989), 0.2790 (1988), 0.2786 (1987)

Overview: Latvia is in the process of reforming the centrally planned economy inherited from the former USSR into a market economy. Prices have been freed, and privatization of shops and farms has begun. Latvia lacks natural resources, aside from its arable land and small forests. Its most valuable economic asset is its work force, which is better educated and disciplined than in most of the former Soviet republics. Industrial production is highly diversified, with products ranging from agricultural machinery to consumer electronics. One conspicuous vulnerability: Latvia produces only 10% of its electric power needs. Latvia in the near term must retain key commercial ties to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine while moving in the long run toward joint ventures, technological support, and trade ties to the West. Because of the efficiency of its mostly individual farms, Latvians enjoy a diet that is higher in meat, vegetables, and dairy products and lower in grain and potatoes than diets in the 12 non-Baltic republics of the USSR. Good relations with Russia are threatened by animosity between ethnic Russians (34% of the population) and native Latvians.GDP: purchasing power equivalent - $NA; per capital NA; real growth rate - 8% (1991)Inflation rate (consumer prices): approximately 200% (1991)Unemployment rate: NA%Budget: revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991)Exports: $239 million (f.o.b., 1990) commodities: food 14%, railroad cars 13%, chemicals 12% partners: Russia 50%, Ukraine 15%, other former Soviet republics 30%, West 5%Imports: $9.0 billion (c.i.f., 1989) commodities: machinery 35%, petroleum products 13%, chemicals 9% partners: NAExternal debt: $650 million (1991 est.)Industrial production: growth rate 0% (1991)Electricity: 1,975,000 kW capacity; 6,500 million kWh produced, 2,381 kWh per capita (1990)Industries: employs 33.2% of labor force; highly diversified; dependent on imports for energy, raw materials, and intermediate products; produces buses, vans, street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textilesAgriculture: employs 23% of labor force; principally dairy farming and livestock feeding; products - meat, milk, eggs, grain, sugar beets, potatoes, and vegetables; fishing and fish packingIllicit drugs: transshipment point for illicit drugs from Central and Southwest Asia to Western Europe

Note: Between early 1975 and late 1976 Lebanon was torn by civil war between its Christians - then aided by Syrian troops - and its Muslims and their Palestinian allies. The cease-fire established in October 1976 between the domestic political groups generally held for about six years, despite occasional fighting. Syrian troops constituted as the Arab Deterrent Force by the Arab League have remained in Lebanon. Syria's move toward supporting the Lebanese Muslims, and the Palestinians and Israel's growing support for Lebanese Christians, brought the two sides into rough equilibrium, but no progress was made toward national reconciliation or political reforms - the original cause of the war. Continuing Israeli concern about the Palestinian presence in Lebanon led to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. Israeli forces occupied all of the southern portion of the country and mounted a summer-long siege of Beirut, which resulted in the evacuation of the PLO from Beirut in September under the supervision of a multinational force (MNF) made up of US, French, and Italian troops. Within days of the departure of the MNF, Lebanon's newly elected president, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated; his elder brother Amin was elected to succeed him. In the immediate wake of Bashir's death, however, Christian militiamen massacred hundreds of Palestinian refugees in two Beirut camps. This prompted the return of the MNF to ease the security burden on Lebanon's weak Army and security forces. In late March 1984 the last MNF units withdrew. In 1988, President Gemayel completed his term of office. Because parliamentarians failed to elect a presidential successor, Gemayel appointed then Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Commander Gen. Michel Awn acting president. Lebanese parliamentarians met in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, in late 1989 and concluded a national reconciliation pact that codified a new power-sharing formula, specifying reduced powers for the Christian president and giving Muslims more authority. Rene MUAWAD was subsequently elected president on 4 November 1989, ending a 13-month period during which Lebanon had no president and rival Muslim and Christian governments. MUAWAD was assassinated 17 days later, on 22 November; on 24 November, Ilyas Harawi was elected to succeed MUAWAD. In October 1990, the civil war was apparently brought to a conclusion when Syrian and Lebanese forces ousted renegade Christian General Awn from his stronghold in East Beirut. Awn had defied the legitimate government and established a separate ministate within East Beirut after